Recipe of the week: raspberry ricotta cake by Alison Roman

This cake is intended to be on the less-sweet side, says Alison Roman. If you’re craving something a bit stickier, a bit sweeter, know that, in lieu of the unsweetened berries, this versatile batter can be baked with one cup of jam or marmalade swirled in. The result will still be very delicious and extremely snackable.

Ingredients: makes one 23cm cake

• Cooking spray, for greasing
• 220g plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 365g ricotta cheese
• 275g sugar
• 3 large eggs
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• grated zest of 1 lemon, lime, grapefruit or orange (optional)
• 115g unsalted butter, melted
• 340-450g raspberries or blackberries, fresh or frozen

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Spray a 23cm round cake tin with cooking spray and line with a round of baking paper.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
• In a medium bowl, whisk the ricotta, 220g of the sugar, the eggs, vanilla and citrus zest (if using) until smooth. Whisk or gently fold into the flour mixture until just blended. Fold in the melted butter, followed by half the raspberries, crushing them ever so slightly as you fold – you don’t want them to disappear into the batter, just to be distributed evenly to create a nice, streaky look, almost like tie-dye.
• Transfer the batter to the cake tin and scatter the remaining raspberries and 55g sugar over the top. (It might look like a lot of sugar – because it is! But it’s necessary, promise.)
• Bake until the cake is golden brown, and a tester or toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean (55-65 minutes). Let cool for at least 20 minutes before unmoulding.
• Eat with: a bowl of ricotta (sweetened or unsweetened) on the side (you know you want to).
• Do ahead: this cake can be baked 3 days ahead, wrapped tightly in plastic and stored at room temperature.

Taken from Sweet Enough: A Baking Book by Alison Roman, published by Hardie Grant at £28. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £21.99 (incl. p&p), call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk

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